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Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Hazelnut and Grain Loaf

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on June 4, 2011| 47 Comments »

For the longest time, Dan Lepard’s Cobnut Loaf with Honey and Grains has been calling to me from my well-worn copy of The Handmade Loaf.

The problem is, cobnuts aren’t readily available here in Australia.  Hazelnuts are a reasonable substitute, but as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always been too lazy to roast and skin them.

So one of the first things I did with my newly discovered blanched roasted hazelnuts was to give this daisy-shaped loaf a go.  It’s a wet, sticky dough, but the final shaping is quite easy, and can take a reasonably heavy flouring.  I simplified Dan’s methodology a little, but found it still worked well.

As I didn’t have straight rye grains, I used a grain mix that I found in the fridge.   On cooking and soaking, the grains swelled up to several times their starting weight, which meant I had enough for these loaves plus a couple of others (more on those soon).

Here are some photos of the process…

My friend Joanna has baked this recipe several times, in a variety of different shapes – please have a look at her post here.  I can now understand why she finds this bread so appealing!

The hazelnuts and tender, sweet grains are a delicious combination, and the loaf kept surprisingly well – it was still soft after three days on the kitchen bench. I took one loaf to a barbeque, and sliced the other for breakfast – it was a great foil to our poached eggs. Definitely a bread I’ll be baking again!

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Rhubarb, Berry, Apple and Hazelnut Crisp

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , , , on June 2, 2011| 49 Comments »

My friends Mark and Bruce at Real Food Has Curves create some truly delicious recipes.

In the past I’ve blogged about their Paris-Brest ring, baked numerous batches of their figgy rolls, and eaten copious quantities of their caramelized leek tabbouleh.  Mark’s recent Apricot Rhubarb Crisp inspired me to make a version using the frozen berries we’d bought in Marrickville recently.

The great thing about this recipe is its simplicity – the topping comes together with a stir (because it uses nut oil instead of butter), and the fruit is simply chopped and combined.  It’s so easy, in fact, that I’ve made it twice in the past week – once to try it out, and then a second time as a dinner party dessert.

My version is sweeter than Mark’s, and uses hazelnuts instead of pecans in the topping.  I was excited to discover blanched roasted hazelnuts at Southern Cross Supplies – in the past I’ve avoided buying hazelnuts because I couldn’t be bothered skinning them.  I know it’s not a difficult process, but it  makes such a mess!

Topping:

  • 60g plain (AP) flour
  • 45g rolled oats
  • 70g brown sugar
  • 60g chopped blanched hazelnuts
  • 60g hazelnut oil
  • 30ml maple syrup
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • pinch fine sea salt

Note: I used my scales to weigh out the ingredients, but Mark also has cup measures listed in his post.

1. Combine all the topping ingredients in a large bowl and stir until evenly moistened.  Preheat oven to 175C with fan.

2. Fill a large roasting pan (I used my new Emile Henry dish) with an assortment of chopped fruits and berries – I used some of our new season rhubarb, about 500g of frozen berries, four peeled and chopped Bilpin Pink Lady apples, and some frozen cherries that I found in the freezer.

3. Sprinkle a tablespoon of cornflour over the fruit and sweeten with some plain or vanilla sugar, then stir gently to combine.

4. With your hands, crumble the topping over the fruit. It won’t cover the fruit completely, which is fine, because the topping is quite rich and needs a fair bit of fruit to balance it out.

5. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is, as the name suggests, crisp.

We accompanied ours with microwave custard, and the batch served six adults, with leftovers.

PS. I forgot to mention that this is a great do-ahead dessert.  I baked the one below mid-afternoon, and then left it on the bench until evening.  It only required a few minutes in the oven to reheat!

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Baking Bread

Posted in Frugal Living, Recipes, tagged , , , , , on May 31, 2011| 43 Comments »

I tried baking my high hydration ciabatta dough in my new bannetons.

It was a fiddly process – the ciabatta dough was almost too wet to shape – but the end result was quite pleasing nonetheless.  I rose both loaves in my oval bannetons, and slashed one with three long vertical cuts, and the other with diagonal horizontal slashes.

The dough stuck a little to the cane baskets – I suspect I’ve reached the maximum hydration that I can prove in the bannetons – but the excess brushed off quite easily.

I managed to get a crumb shot this time before the wolves descended!

. . . . .

My lovely friend Joanna recently posted her recipe for 100% Russian rye sourdough loaves.

Both the recipe and the process were intriguing – the dough is mixed in two stages without kneading, and then left to rise for an extended time.

I didn’t bother bulk proving the dough, and instead scraped the batter into two long loaf tins as soon as it was mixed.   These were covered and then left to rise on top of the fish tank for about seven hours, until the dough appeared over-inflated and on the verge of collapse.

After baking, we wrapped the loaves in paper and left them overnight (as instructed).  They were quite nice the following day, and delicious the day after that – the crumb softened and the flavour developed as the loaves matured.

It’s a tasty and very interesting bread to bake, especially if you’re partial to rye loaves.  Joanna’s original post is here!

Edit: here’s a photo of the risen, unbaked rye loaf – as you can see, it really didn’t rise at all after it went in the oven.  Having said that, several hours before this photo, it was only an inch high in the pan.

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First Banneton Loaves

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on May 26, 2011| 35 Comments »

Tah-dah! Here are the first two loaves made with my new bannetons!

I still need to work on my slashes – I’m yet to master controlling the oven spring with my razor cuts.  But overall, I’m pretty happy with how these turned out!

I dusted the proofing baskets like a mad woman – there was about half a cup of excess rye flour after the loaves were turned out…

I tried slashing a cross on the top of one loaf…

…and a fancy star shape on the other.

The cross-slashed loaf rose tall and round, bursting a little in the middle…

…whereas the star-slashed loaf expanded in a more controlled, but less vigorous fashion.

I tweaked my usual sourdough recipe to lower the hydration slightly, and added in a little semolina flour.  The dough was bulk proved overnight on the kitchen bench (it’s late autumn here, and quite cool at night), before being shaped first thing this morning.  Each loaf had a starting dough weight of just under 1kg.

  • 300g sourdough starter (fed at a ratio of 1 cup water to 1 cup flour)
  • 550g water
  • 50g olive oil
  • 200g semolina flour
  • 600g bakers/bread flour
  • 250g white spelt flour
  • 16g fine sea salt

More loaves to come!

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Raspberry & Chocolate Friands and Microwave Custard

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , on May 20, 2011| 71 Comments »

We adore friands.

I haven’t made them for quite a while, as I managed to kill my non-stick friand pan, but decided to try them again recently with these cute little cupcake liners I found in the pantry.

The liners have been in the cupboard for ages because, truth be told, I don’t really like cupcakes.

Friands on the other hand, are delectable, moreish and incredibly addictive.  Pete and Big Boy love them, so a batch of six rarely lasts more than a day in our house.

Inspired by the abundance of frozen fruit in the freezer, I’ve adapted the blueberry friand recipe at Exclusively Food to use raspberries and dark chocolate instead.

  • 100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 45g plain flour
  • 140g icing sugar mixture (or plain icing sugar)
  • 85g almond meal
  • 80g frozen raspberries
  • 50g dark chocolate callets (I used Callebaut 70%)

1. Preheat the oven to 190C or 175C with fan.  Sit six sturdy cupcake liners on a tray and spray the insides of them lightly with oil.  Alternatively, use a friand pan or muffin pan.

2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, icing sugar and almond meal.  I’ve found that sifting all three results in a lighter texture, but if you’re feeling lazy, just sift the icing sugar and stir it together with the flour and almond meal.

3. In a separate mixing bowl and using a hand whisk, beat the egg whites for about a minute until they’re frothy, but not stiff.

4. Quickly but gently fold in the dry ingredients, then add the cooled melted butter.  Stir until just combined.

5. Reserve six raspberries, then add the remaining raspberries and chocolate and stir very gently into the batter – you don’t want to break all the raspberries up.

6. Spoon the mixture evenly into the six paper liners and then top each with a reserved raspberry.  Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, rotating the tray once during the baking time.  The finished friands will be well risen and  golden brown in colour.

7. Allow to cool on a wire rack before serving with a hot cup of tea!

. . . . .

And…waste not, want not…turn the four leftover egg yolks into custard in just a few minutes in the microwave!  I posted this original recipe a couple of years ago, but here it is again, this time using all milk instead of milk and cream:

  • 2 cups (500ml) full-cream milk (I used UHT)
  • 1 tsp homemade vanilla extract*
  • 4 egg yolks (from 59g eggs)
  • 1 Tbsp (4 tsps) cornflour (cornstarch)
  • 1/3 cup (70g) caster (superfine) sugar*

* Instead of the extract and caster sugar, I used vanilla sugar this time.

1. In a large pyrex mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, extract, cornflour and caster sugar until smooth.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes until hot (my microwave is 1100 watts).

2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth.  Pour the egg yolks through a sieve into the bowl of heated milk, whisking constantly as it ribbons into the hot mixture to ensure it doesn’t curdle.

3. Heat the eggy milk in the microwave on high for 1 minute, then whisk.  Heat for another 30 seconds, then whisk again.  Continue heating in 30 seconds bursts, whisking well after each, until the custard has thickened to your liking. Use immediately, or refrigerate until needed, with a piece of clingfilm pressed to the surface to stop it skinning.

Click here for a printable version of these recipes

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